Alabama could know as soon as today if it made the cut as a new home of the Boeing 777X.

In an email sent to company employees Tuesday, Boeing
announced it would cut the number of potential sites for its
next-generation jetliner facility down "to a handful" by today. It did not say if it
would announce the finalists.

Alabama is one of 22 states submitting a total of 54 sites
for the $10 billion 777X facility. State officials hope Boeing will opt to
locate the facility in Huntsville over competitors in places such as Utah,
California, Missouri and South Carolina. The company began looking for a new
home for the 777X when the machinists union at Boeing's plant in Everett, Wash.
rejected a new contract offer.

If an announcement is made today, it will come as just as
Boeing books a new order for the 777X.

The AP is reporting Hong Kong Airline Cathay Pacific is
buying 21 of the planes that will be built in the next decade. Boeing has
already booked orders for 259 of the planes, worth a total of $95 billion.

Washington state governor: Everything's been done to keep
Boeing

Meanwhile, Gov. Jay Inslee said Washington state has done almost
everything it can do to keep the production of the 777X in Puget Sound, adding he
still hopes the company and the machinists union can resolve their differences.

"There has not been any progress to report. I'm not in
control of the negotiations," he said. "I'm just the governor."

Inslee led the charge for the tax incentive package designed
to keep Boeing in the state. It's worth an estimated $8.7 billion over 16 years
and includes incentives for workforce training. He's also called on union
leadership to give rank-and-file members a chance to vote on Boeing's contract
offer.

"We would not back away from an offer we made in good
faith to our team. It was a rejection, plain and simple, and we now have to
turn and face the reality of the union leadership's final decision," Ray
Conner, president and CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in an email to
employees Tuesday.

Union officials said the offer was too similar to one its
members overwhelmingly rejected in November.

Conner, who Wednesday was promoted to vice chairman,
president and CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said the list of potential
sites for the 777X facility will be narrowed down this week with plans to
announce the final decision in January.

"Strengthening our commercial airplanes business for the
short and long term will be guiding our decision making," Conner said.